Neverland
by OncePeetaHermione
Summary: What will happen in Neverland now that most of the characters are there searching for Henry? This is swanfire and charming family fic with a bit of snowing/rumbelle ...
1. Why is it always me?

**My version of what might happen now that the characters are all in different worlds. This will mainly be Henry/Neal/Emma… but there will definitely be charming family stuff and some stuff with Regina, Hook, Gold and maybe Belle…. Just FYI this fic is Swanfire based with of course Snowing and mentioned Rumbelle … and the others I'll just leave open to interpretation :p **

****Disclaimer** - I do not have anything to do with OUAT apart from being a fan and the writer of this and some other fics…. So yeah…. Don't think anything I write is real or sue me or whatever…. Just read and I hope you enjoy :D**

* * *

**Chapter one: "Why is it always me?"**

Neal raised his eyes skeptically, "And this'll work?"

"Yes…" Aurora replied hesitantly.

"Are you sure?"

It was Mulan who answered him this time, after a small furtive glance in Phillips direction. "…No"

Neal sighed, and turned away from the threesome. He rubbed his tired face, trying to sooth the small headache he had acquired through the day's stress. They had finally found a way. A way to get him to Neverland. To his son.

Mere day's after his return to the Enchanted Forest he had been awoken by a woman's screams. Aurora, trapped within a nightmare had woken their entire campsite. The 3 of them swarmed around her, but it was him that she had immediately sought out after being shaken awake. She had spoken 3 words. Just 3 words which had made his already aching heart pound painfully in his chest. "Henry's in Neverland."

Every moment since then, every single moment, Neal only had one goal in mind: finding his son. He knew the horrors of that island personally, and there was no way Neal would allow Henry to be stuck there as long as he was. Who knew what the crazy islanders would do to him when night fell.

The only problem was how to get there. His newfound friends had been more than willing to help him find his family, and now he had to put his trust in them. If Mulan and Aurora said they had found a way to get him to his son, he would have to listen to them. Neal might have been through many portals in his time, but these ladies were resourceful. Along with Emma and her mother they had found a way to Storybrooke. More recently they had found a way to bridge the gap between 2 worlds and retrieve Phillips lost soul.

There was no doubting that he was nervous though. This portal might rip him apart. Send him somewhere far worse than Neverland. Or worst of all, find a way to manipulate his family's life more than it already was.

However, if he thought about it logically… what did he really have to lose? His son had already been kidnapped, the love of his life most likely thought he was dead… this was his best chance. Not only to save his son, but to escape all the torturous what-if's he would concoct if he stayed in the Enchanted Forest, bored and virtually alone. It was so crazy it just might work.

Nodding to himself slightly, he turned. Making eye contact with Phillip before looking over at the girls, he felt his stomach clench in anticipation.

"Alright… Just do it. It's our best chance."

Mulan nodded back at him and they all took a step away from her, preparing for the worst.

* * *

Emma was hot and sweaty and ready to kill whoever had suggested this plan of action.

They had arrived in Neverland after a long oceanic journey through the land Henry had been taken to. After hiding the Jolly Rodger from prying eyes with one of Gold's handy spells, _someone_ had suggested they scope out the island, and look for clues that would lead them to Henry. And they had. But now that they knew where all the children were being held hostage, they needed to find a place to set up camp that provided a good view of the situation. And that same annoying _someone_ had suggested the top of a freaking mountain.

She was a fit person, especially recently with all the running around she had been doing, but her father and Hook had to help Gold, with his messed up leg, climb the rather large mountain. Therefore, Emma had been lumped with their massive bag of supplies whilst Regina and her mother walked up ahead, scot free, scouting for a good vantage point.

"Here will do," Emma vaguely heard as she entered a small clearing near the top of the killer mountain. "We can kind of see their camp from here, and with some binoculars or something we will be able to watch what happens down there all day." Mary Margaret explained as Emma dropped the bag heavily to the ground, and her father lowered Mr. Gold onto a small boulder.

As Emma collapsed on the grass, and momentarily closed her eyes, Hook approached her. "I see you've had a good work out Swan, I'm sure I can think of a more pleasurable one, let me know if you ever want to give it a go." He drawled as he bent down to unzip the bag.

"In your dreams" Emma murmured in reply as she glared at him through her lashes.

"Every night" was his cocky retort as he yanked something from the depths of the bag. Emma rolled her eyes before noticing what he had pulled out.

"A 3 liter container of water? What the hell Hook!" she exclaimed, finally standing up. "You made me carry all that water up a freaking mountain although he-" Emma cried with a frustrated flourish in Mr. Gold's direction, "is more than proficient at making things appear out of nowhere… such as … I don't know… WATER!"

"He's not the only one." Regina added, with a pointed look in her direction. Emma's shouts had attracted the attention of her family, and her mother was looking at her with something akin to concern or pity hovering in her gaze.

Emma, suddenly feeling claustrophobic, took a deep breath and broke eye contact with her mother whilst taking a step away from the group. "How about I go collect fire wood" she mumbled, not waiting for a reply before she turned and walked off into the forest.

She put a good distance between her and her strange travel group before picking a fallen log to sit on. Emma watched through the trees as the setting sun sunk closer to the horizon, letting the rays illuminate the beautiful island landscape. She was exhausted. Both mentally and emotionally. Her whole life, she had been moving from place to place, never really stopping to take stock of her life. Therefore, the fact that she hadn't had a moment of peace since the curse broke didn't bother her that much. It was slightly annoying, but it didn't bother her. What bothered her was that she now had people to care for, which also loosely translated to 'people that it would hurt to loose'.

First Neal had been shot, and then he had fallen down a portal. It was too severe an injury for her to have any hope he survived. Then Henry had disappeared. Emma would never forgive Tamara or Greg for kidnapping her son. If she found them they had better hope to god that there was someone willing to hold her back, because she would most certainly kill for her son. For what they did to him. For what they did to her family. To her.

Emma closed her eyes as the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon, and let a tear roll down her cheek. Why did this always happen to her? Something good would happen, then that happiness would be taken away. She was born, and then separated from her parents. She had a family who then had a kid of their own and didn't want her anymore. She found a nice, non-abusive foster home then the parents or some foster sibling would go off their meds and do something crazy or the family would have to let her go. Then Neal happened… then Henry. After that she didn't really have any happiness until Mary Margaret, who almost got sent to jail. And now, here she was. Having lost Neal and Henry once more. crying. All alone. In the middle of the forest in Neverland.

The feeling of desperation was both, nothing new, yet unbearably painful at the same time. No wonder she had snapped at Hook.

As the distant noise of abandoned, crying children filled the air, Emma wondered momentarily if Henry was out there somewhere crying as well. She felt much closer to him now that they were in the same land, but also… unsettled by the familiar sound of children separated from their parents.

As the first stars in the night sky begun to twinkle, Emma heard someone approaching. Dropping to the ground, Emma pat around in the darkness for anything that might protect her. She grabbed a long pointy branch from the dirt then stood up and raised it like a sword in front of her.

Her efforts were unnecessary though, as when the person pushed through the branches and foliage near her fallen log it was only David. He took one look at her, with her stick pointed out towards him, dirt on her hands and knees, tear tracks covering her face, and paused.

"Emma? Are you alright?" he asked in a slow, yet worried tone.

She coughed quietly and rubbed her face with her free hand to destroy the evidence of her tears. The mud on her hands only made her look worse though, as it stuck slightly to her damp face. "yep… I'm fine, just collecting firewood." Emma replied in what she hoped was a light tone, as she brandished the stick she was holding to indicate she was fulfilling her task.

David didn't say anything. He just grabbed the stick from where it was still positioned as a sword in front of Emma and dropped it on the ground before walking towards her and enveloping her in a hug.

They said nothing as he stroked her hair and she snuggled into his warm arms. Nor whilst they collected wood for a fire. They were on their way back to the clearing, when they saw green flashing lights and loud banging noises penetrate the silent night halfway down the mountain.

Emma briefly looked at David, who seemed confused. "What was that?" he asked Emma as they watched the trees sway dangerously down below.

Looking out into the darkness, Emma thought back to the last time she had seen anything like it and shivered. "Let's get back to the campsite. I'm sure they'll know."

David nodded. "Yes they're the ones with Magical knowledge besides your Mom is probably freaking out right now."

Emma winced slightly yet increased her pace, leaving David to keep up with her.

If she was right, and she had no idea if she was, then someone had used a portal in the area. It was the only thing that made sense. The green light, loud noise and the uncharacteristic wind. She knew it well.

As they broke through into the clearing, Emma found it much emptier than when she left it. As she and David dropped the wood that they had collected they looked around the almost empty campsite. Not seeing who they wanted.

"Mary Margaret's gone to check on that disturbance." Gold's voice floated to them from where he sat perched atop a large rock. "She and the other's went to see what had happened, she was worried you two were caught up in it. What took you so long anyway?"

David looked at Emma as he processed what Gold said. "uhh… never mind… what was it anyway?" he eventually replied, before grabbing some matches from Mary Margaret's backpack, and starting up a fire.

Gold had no idea what the noise and lights were, and if he did, didn't say anything. Emma found a spot on the grass near her father and watched as he created warm glowing flames. Just as he placed the last of their twigs over the built up flames, the three of them heard footsteps returning up the mountain.

Emma looked at David, confused. She could definitely hear more than 3 pairs of feet climbing up the final steep hill towards them. Despite the fact that they could distinctly hear Mary Margaret's voice chatting away, she was nervous. Who was she leading towards them? What was going on?

Hook and Regina broke through into the clearing first, looking a strange mixture of shocked, bored and relieved. Emma stood as Mary Margaret came into view next, however she didn't seem to notice Emma as she was too caught up in chatting with whoever was behind her.

But as those people entered the clearing behind her mother, Emma understood. It was safe to say she was shocked to see Mulan and Aurora again, in Neverland nonetheless. As a stranger entered behind her friends Emma began walking towards them, oddly happy to see her old travel companions.

But then.

"Emma look!" Mary Margaret called out to her loudly across the clearing with a large smile on her face. And pointing not at Mulan, Aurora or the man accompanying them, but to someone in the shadows, someone just coming up over the ridge and into the campsite.

Emma couldn't believe her eyes at first, not until Gold beside her pushed himself up from his rock and asked in a strangled tone, "Bae?"

* * *

**Hi people who read my story! You are awesome. Thank you so much. Well… I hope some people liked this and my writing style isn't too horrible… I'm not quite sure where this will go at the moment… there will definitely be at least 1 more chapter, but I'm not sure if I'll make it longer at this stage… just a heads up if I do decide to make it longer I won't be able to update tons because I have exams in 2 weeks… woo…. :( … but then I have about a month off so yay! But anyway this has been a massive ramble… if your still reading you either deserve an award or need to get back to studying/cleaning your room/work… so yep I'll stop now … anyway a review would be great to know how this story is … so yeah … please review :) **


	2. why didn't you tell us!

The clearing was silent as everyone turned to watch Emma and Gold's reaction to the startling news. The pair however seemed unable to comprehend the miracle. It was Mary Margaret who eventually broke the silence hanging heavily in the darkness.

"It's Neal, he's alive." She directed at her daughter in a careful tone.

Her comment broke Emma out of her reverie and still staring at Neal blankly, she murmured a soft response. "I can see that…"

"Son!" Gold cried out, when he finally approached Neal. whilst his father had limped towards him, Neal's gaze didn't leave Emma. Even as he tolerated the gentle hug his father gave him his eyes didn't leave her own. As Gold released him and started blubbering loving sentiments Emma walked forwards. With a quick glance at his father and a small smile, he pushed past him and made his way towards Emma.

The pair stopped a foot from each other in the middle of the clearing, unaware of all those around them.

"You're alive" Emma chocked out, her hand raising to his chest, looking for the gunshot wound.

"I know," he replied, catching her hand in his.

"You're fine", she murmured, in disbelief.

"I know"

"You met Mulan and Aurora"

"Yep"

"_They_ took Henry"

"… I know" he replied guiltily.

This made her finally look up into his warm eyes. And a surge of emotions rose up within her, making its presence the only way she knew how to express it. By anger.

"How? How are you alive Neal? You should be dead right now! I had to tell Henry you were dead! Where the hell did you end up? The Enchanted Forest? And how on earth did you get _here_? What are you doing here? Oh, and Tamara! That Bitch took our son. He was separated from us anyway so you… you slipping into that freaking portal all alone - was for nothing!"

As she spoke, his gaze lowered, focusing on some point over her shoulder, and he refused to look at her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and had the right to look ashamed. "At least you had your family." he murmured.

"sure I did, but you know what, NEAL, what I didn't have was you… or Henry… and now… now I'm not getting any answers! Are you going to fix that at the very least?"

He remained silent.

Someone cleared their throat, and Emma, realizing how close she was standing to Neal took a step back before turning her gaze to the voyeurs of their argument.

It appeared to have been Mulan who had interrupted. Emma nodded at her and sent a small friendly smile in her direction. Which Mulan took as a hint to answer some of her questions.

"Hey Emma, yes you're right… Neal ended up in the Enchanted Forest with us. We were at the safe haven when we saw a portal open. The three of us went to see who had come to our land and found Neal unconscious."

"Yeah well… how did you fix him, he seems okay now?" Emma asked quietly.

It was Aurora who chimed in next. "Well Mulan and I collected some of that special water from where you and Snow went through the portal back to your land. And we have found it quite useful in the past year. We still had some left so we poured it down his throat, and within moments he was fine."

"Lake Nostas," Mary Margaret announced to the clearing. "It has restorative properties."

Emma nodded, remembering. "Yeah but how did you know about Henry… how did you get here?"

Aurora chimed in again. "As to how we got here… that's a long story… but it appears Henry has been having some nightmares since his capture. I fell asleep one night, and ended up in the netherworld with him. I told him his father was alive, and then I found out he was in Neverland. Ever since, Mulan, Phillip and I have been helping Neal find a way here. He was desperate to return home to you Emma, but the moment he heard about Henry, he knew he needed to come here and find a way to help your son. And we were more than happy to help."

"Thank you," she murmured, grateful for their friendship. "I owe you"

"It was no problem" the man she assumed was Phillip assured her. Emma smiled at him.

Charming cleared his throat then, introducing himself and Gold to the new arrivals. They each seemed wary of Rumpelstiltskin.

As the group talked and considered finding some food, Emma turned to a still mute Neal. As they made eye contact, she nodded to the forest and stalked of, hoping he was following her.

* * *

She didn't stop walking despite Neal's calls out to her until she reached what appeared to be her fallen log from earlier. It was very dark, and although not much was visible the moon was sending a shaft of light though the branches so Emma could just make out Neal's face as he entered the clearing behind her.

"Emma, I'm sorry." He blurted the second he caught up to her

Emma stared at him blankly with one eyebrow raised and her heart racing in her chest.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you about Tamara, I'm sorry she stole Henry… I… I really thought she loved me. I never realized how insane she was. I'm sorry."

Emma listened to what he had to say, knowing undoubtedly that he was telling the truth. It was nice to hear him admit Tamara was just as evil as she had been attempting to convey, however it wasn't quite what she needed to hear. There was something else niggling at the back of her mind… and in the depths of her heart.

"You let go" she whispered into the silence of the night which was only punctured by their heavy breathing.

"Wha-"

"When you went through the portal. You said… what you said… and then you let go, again."

Neal took a step forward and placed his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "I did that because I didn't want Henry to lose both of us. I didn't know what was going to happen… and well I didn't want you lost somewhere with me… dead… and no way to get home to him."

"But you let go. You… you told me that you loved me then you left! And despite the circumstances, it brought back painful memories, and even more painful feelings. It was just so similar to Portland Neal. One minute, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you loved me… the next… I wasn't so sure…and then my son was being ripped away from me again … it was just unbearable…"

A sad smile crept onto Neal's crinkled face, as he moved a hand to her cheek and caressed it slowly causing her eyes to close lightly. "I'm sorry" he whispered, "I know saying that doesn't fix anything but I'm more than sorry I hurt you, you need to know that"

Emma leaned her tired head into his palm enjoying the familiar rough feeling against her skin. "I know you're sorry… just, don't do it again."

He let out a small chuckle as her eyes popped open and looked at him with an intense passion he hadn't seen for 12 years. It was a look so purely Emma, and he knew what was coming instinctually before his mind caught up with it.

Within seconds, Emma had lent her head forward slightly and pressed her lips softly to his. A shockwave went through the pair of them as they kissed. It had been such a long time, and kissing each other again was like returning home after a very, very long day at work. It was filled with relief, love, hope and passion that made the hairs on the back of Neal's neck stand on end. If anything kissing Emma was better than he remembered. His memory had not done her justice.

After countless moments Neal pulled away, he knew he needed to say something. Something important.

"I love you, and I hope you never forget that." He whispered to her in the darkness. An elated smile spread across her tired face, and Neal thought he had never seen anything so beautiful as her smile.

She leaned in to kiss again him but paused momentarily, her lips almost touching his, to murmur "I love you too."

* * *

They held hands as they walked back to the clearing, and Emma could feel her mother's piercing stare as they joined the group who were eating dry crackers from Hooks bag of supplies.

Once all the crackers were gone and everyone felt relatively full, Neal looked around the circle, his eyes landing on Emma, who he asked, "what do we do now?"

She looked back at him, knowing exactly what he meant. "Now we try and find a way to get Henry back."

Charming nodded and asked the group if anyone had any ideas. The 10 of them just sat silently, looking around at each other, hoping someone else would know what to do. Emma's stomach clenched unpleasantly.

Eventually, Neal cleared his throat. "Ok so what do we know? - Henry was captured by Greg and Tamara, they used a magic bean to get here… and then what? Why did they need to bring him here?"

Surprisingly, it was Regina who answered him. "Actually, shortly after we got here it became apparent that they had taken Henry to the group of children down by the beach. We overheard them talking about 'having the boy' and assumed it was Henry. We haven't seen or heard from Greg or Tamara since we got here."

Neal's face paled and his eyes rose from the fire, which he had been staring at, to look at Hook in horror. "Henry's the kid they were after?"

The pirate nodded slightly, "must be… unless they're talking about someone else."

"But that would be too much of a coincidence…" Neal added, before turning to look around the circle. Emma was severely confused, and by the looks on everyone else's faces she wasn't alone, apparently this was something you only knew of if you were familiar with Neverland.

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Mary Margaret asked, "Who is after what?"

Neal took a deep breath, looking into the bright flames of the fire before beginning. "Peter Pan was only a boy when he came to Neverland, and century's later he still was, because no on ages here. Pan grew attached to this place but was lonely so he brought friends back from a world close by, through the stars in the sky. However, the tale gets confusing from there. One day, he stopped letting boy's leave the land. He begun searching, looking for something… for someone. There was a prophecy made that a boy would be found and that he would help Peter Pan with something. No one ever knew what. Even Peter's right hand men had no clue. All they had was a picture of the boy they were looking for. They were instructed to find him. However, the mysterious thing is that since his orders to capture the boy were made, no one apart from one of his guard has seen him. And the shadow of course. "

"The shadow?" Mulan asked skeptically

Hook replied then with an unpleasant expression on his face. "The shadow of a boy that has been ripped from its body. The shadow flies to the other world and captures children, with the hope of returning with the prophesized boy."

It took Emma a moment to process what was being said, but when she did, she felt 10 times more anxious then she had all week. "So what you're saying is that Henry is the prophesized boy? Tamara and Greg brought him here because they knew that?"

A small anxious nod from Neal, "most likely"

Emma felt like she was going to feint, but the sound of her dads voice brought her back to the present. "Look, we don't even know if it _is_ Henry that was captured. It could have been any random kid. What we need is to get into their camp, and see if Henry really is there."

"And how exactly do you propose we do that David?" Gold asked sarcastically. "This island is filled with children, they won't let adults enter, and they have enough people defending their entries that if word got out we were searching for Henry something bad would certainly happen to the boy."

Half the circle grimaced, their ideas going down the drain. But Neal stood up, squeezed Emma's shoulder and made his way to his father.

"Do it papa… make me 14 again."

* * *

**There we go. Chapter two. Done. **

**Thank you so so much to everyone who has already reviewed/favourite-d/and followed this story. It means sooo much to me that people actually care about this. **

**I'm sorry for the wait for this chapter… but I'm in the middle of doing exams right now, and finding the time to write hasn't been easy. But my hardest exam is over so I will hopefully update in a few days. (The 20****th**** at the latest... which i know is more than a week but still... exams...). Anyway I finally have an idea of where to take this long term so there will be at least 5 more chapters to this story :D so hopefully you all still like it :p **

**Let me know what you thought of this chapter… good/bad/awkward… I don't mind… and oh yeah THANKYOU for reading!**


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